Last step towards revenge
by MiseRIP
Summary: Orochimaru sends Sasuke back to Konoha to capture the Kyuubi, and prove his loyalty. Naruto's been knocked out cold and can't do a thing! It's up to Kakashi and Sakura to defeat Sasuke!
1. Damned cows

The underground hideout of the legendary Serpent fighter all but glowed with an evil aura. Those who unwitingly stumbled upon the dark place would immediately turn tail and run for their lives, just from the feeling that radiated from it. It was situated beneath a large black forest, void of any life except for the monsters that dwelled below who would wish to take it...and stomp on it with their evil foot of doom. Oh, and except for the random tourist, every now and then, who thought it would make them seem brave to venture past the rotting line of trees that marked where the forest began. Naturally, none survived, and the cycle of life would continue...bringing another idiot along. Anyway, back to the story about the evil radiating hideout of Snake-Man.

The inside of the hideout wasn't much different to the forest above. It was dead. Dead and gloomy. Of course, then again, one would worry if a place was dead and _cheery._ Every blood stained brick wall was lined with a row of torture devices. Perhaps just used as a reminder for any who wished to leave the place, that there would be a lot of pain involved if they did so, and that they would be unlikely to live through the experience.

And so we come to the main room. A throne room of sorts, I suppose, where none other than Michael Jackson- - - Uh, I mean...Orochimaru...yes that's _exactly _what I meant, sat lounged over a large mahogany chair, tap tapping his claw like nails on the arm rests. The arm rests were styled to look like serpents with their heads tucked into what could be described as their chests. Not that snakes have any chests...or so that's what they'd like us to believe. Orochimaru was a pale and sickly looking man, his face gaunt and his golden eyes sunken. His hair was long and black, and looked as though it could use a long wash or two. The Snake-Man had a rather bad sense of fashion, and was garbed in loose tan material with long sleeves that came down to just below his knees, mixed with a bow of purple around his waist, that looked like thick rope.

One of his main men stood across from him, reporting back to Orochimaru after a two month long mission to find out what the Akatsuki was up to. It was always prudent to know what the enemy was up to, especially when you used to be apart of their organisation.

"It has been confirmed, Orochimaru. The Akatsuki are attempting to seize the Kyuubi," spoke the silver haired ninja, by the name of Kabuto, and he straightened his glasses.

"Ah...so they are...so they are..." The altogether creepy Orochimaru turned away from Kabuto and began to stroke his non-existant beard, as if he was in deep thought. Just to add to the feeling, he flicked his long, snake like tongue over his cracked lips.

The silver haired nin was rather turned on by the spectacle, but he would never dream of speaking of it outloud. That would just be weird. Not to mention extremely uncomfortable. Instead, he asked outloud, "You already knew?"

"I had no idea."

"Ah, okay."

"I think it is about time that we find our bargaining chip, hm? perhaps then, they will think twice about turning down my offer of joining both their organisation with mine. After all, it would be in their best interest," Orochimaru turned back to Kabuto and leaned back in the chair, eliciting a loud gas-releasing-like-squeak from the leather stuck between his buttocks, followed by a long silence.

"...Would you like me to go fetch Sasuke-kun, then?" the younger ninja coughed and avoided eyecontact with the older man, "I expect you want to include him in your plans to fetch the Kyuubi. After all, it would be the perfect way to see if he has truly joined our side."

The Snake-man all but leapt on the change of topic, from the uncomfortable silence, and immediately agreed with a wise nod, "Yes. Bring him here."

Kabuto rolled his eyes heavenward and inwardly thanked whatever gods there were, to get out of the room. _That was terribly uncomfortable, _he thought to himself as he walked down the blood covered hall towards Sasuke's room.

Orochimaru sat on his chair, desperately picking at the sweat induced wedgie caused by the leather he had been sitting on. _Damn leather...Damn cows..._ He squinted his eyes, and from then on, made a vow to wipe the population of cows from the face of the earth.

He sat to attention and quickly straightened his clothes, another squeak echoing throughout the room from the leather, as the door at the other end of the room creaked open.

An older Sasuke of seventeen strode confidently into the room, looking as if he was the coolest person around. He was so cool, that he couldn't even show an ounce of emotion on his face, because that would be breaking all the rules. Oh no, he made you stare at the way he walked, to find out what mood he was in. And tonight, (it was terribly dark in Orochimaru's underground hideout) he decided he was going to be confident. At his age, he now stood at average height and was rather gangly. He had taken to wearing his childhood clothes, but in a larger size. He had attempted to wear his old clothes only a year before, and had been the laughing stock of the entire underground for weeks. Who would have thought that his growth spurt would come so suddenly and all at once! and in one single night! and that his pants would rip in front of everyone!

Yes, such mysteries of growing adult hood are to be feared...

He had vowed revenge on all of them...after he killed _that _man. _That _man still affected him so much, that he stood in front of Orochimaru, for what could have been up to half an hour, contemplating on the different ways he would torture _that _man to death.

Snake-man sighed and cupped his chin with the palm of his hand, "Here we go again. KABUTO! HE'S DOING IT AGAIN! GET THE HOSE!"

Kabuto poked his head around the door with an annoyed look on his face, "_Again?" _

His shoulders slumped and he dragged himself out into the hall, right next to the door, where they had recently installed a tap with a hose connected. The hose and tap were really magnificent things, and both the silver haired ninja and the Snake-Man felt they owed their lives to it. He gripped the handle and turned right until he felt the water traveling down the hose, then he dragged it into the throne room and let the overly obsessed-with-veangence-boy have it.

Sasuke sputtered and spun around when he was hit by a burst of water, stumbling, "W-what are you _doing!"_

Kabuto shrugged and left the room, dragging the hose and closing the door behind him to leave the two in peace.

Orochimaru smirked at the waterlogged boy and leaned forward in his chair, both of his clawed fingers gripping the arm rests in sheer excitement for the mission to come.

"Sasuke-kun...I have a _mission _for you..."


	2. Pathetic

"NARUTO, GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE RIGHT NOW, BEFORE I KILL YOU!" A furious Sakura stalked through the training forest, searching for Naruto. Obviously she had picked up his swearing habit over the years they had spent around eachother. A curious Naruto, only moments before, had noticed his pink haired friend looking at something. Upon closer inspection, he had found her holding a newly made dagger, engraved with many strange markings that he didn't understand. It had been a gift for her birthday, from Kakashi. Unfortunately, the said ninja hadn't been paying much attention to the hyper blondie who had slowly been creeping up on Sakura, who was so engrossed in disbelief that she had recieved such a present, that she hadn't detected Naruto's chakra.

The copy ninja groaned when Naruto's curiosity overcame his sensible thinking, and he snatched the dagger from Sakura's hands. She immediately flew into a rage and the blonde had bolted in fear of his life. Unfortunately, he had forgotten to drop the present and had made off with it. Kakashi rubbed his only visible eye and sighed. Perhaps if he tried to calm the girl down, everything would be fine, and Naruto wouldn't need to stay in hospital for three weeks again. Like last time. Kakashi shuddered and without realising, had covered his manly parts. He definately sympathised with the blonde that day...

He approached the girl who used to be his student and placed a careful hand on her shoulder. The look she gave him was enough to make him immediately back away, and he scratched the back of his head with his eye crinkled in nervousness.

Sakura wordlessly nodded and continued her hunt.

Kakashi glanced behind him, noticing a fearful Naruto, waving to get his attention. He shook his head, straight away, not wanting to incure the girl's wrath on himself, by being seen with her current enemy. He faced away from the blonde, hoping that he'd give up, but instead he tossed the dagger and the copy ninja couldn't help but catch it. It was times like these that Kakashi _really _hated his reflexes.

Sakura seemed to have caught the sound of the swoosh that the dagger made when it flew in the air. She was at Kakashi's side in an instant, somehow managing to tower over him, even though he was more than a head taller than her. He laughed, more nervous than ever and hesitantly handed her back her gift, which she snatched away from the hands of what she felt to be an enemy, and tucked it into her belt. She looked up at him expectantly, more calm now that she had her dagger, but still annoyed.

Kakashi pointed to the bush where Naruto was hiding and she cracked a scary smile, pulling him down for a hug of thanks for the present, and for pointing out where the blonde was. He tried not to shake from fear. Both men had faced many deadly and frightening monsters in their life times...but Sakura...Sakura was _scary. _

The copy ninja sighed to himself and thought, _We are so whipped. _

Before Naruto had even realised what was happening, Sakura had forced all the chakra she could manage into her right hand and had slammed her closed fist into the ground as hard as she could. All the blonde saw was a large ripple running along the ground, before the earth split before his eyes and shattered. He let out a highpitched scream when he felt the earth below him shatter and give way. He dragged a tree down with him, as he fell into the dark hole. He hoped desperately that she hadn't made _too _deep a hole. That would be bad.

A loud _THUMP! _echoed throughout the forest after a solid two minutes of falling on Naruto's part, and Sakura walked past Kakashi, clapping her hands together in satisfaction, ridding her skin of any dirt.

_Definately going to have to take him to the hospital again, _The older man thought to himself grimly, not daring to look into the hole himself.

Orochimaru sat on his "throne" with Kabuto standing beside him. They were gazing at the blood stained wall oposite them, that had flea ridden corpses hanging from hooks. They seemed to be in deep thought.

It had been two weeks since Sasuke had left, promising them victory and his loyalty. He hadn't even winced when he was told what his mission was. He actually seemed...glad...Or so, that's what they thought, judging from his walk out of the throne room, after Snake-Man had talked to him.

"He definately had a bounce in his step," gossiped Orochimaru, excitedly.

"So you've told me..." _about a thousand times since he left. You're never like this when _I _have a bounce in my step. Oh no. It's always Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke!_

"What is the matter with you?"

"Nothing...nothing at all."

"Hm..."

A loud, long squeak-gas-like sound filled the room as Orochimaru shifted to get more comfortable. Kabuto glanced at him from the corner of his eye and muttered, "You _really _need to get that fixed."

"Indeed."

Sasuke leapt from tree to tree, the ground below a blur to his onyx eyes and the wind blowing his equally black hair back. As much as he had tried to deny to himself that this was just like any other mission, the young man couldn't help but notice the hammering of his heart as he neared Konoha. His old home...and his old teammates. He had formulated somewhat of a messy plan, that by far needed to be perfected before he carried out his mission. He had to ensure that Kakashi wouldn't discover he had returned with intentions to kidnap Naruto and the Kyuubi. He sort of hoped that he could have a little fight with the blonde, too. But he wouldn't tell Orochimaru that. Sasuke figured that Sakura would pose no threat, even if she caught him. She would be easy to take care of. He felt he was being realistic, assuming that she still cared more for her looks and romance than her fighting skills. It was definately Kakashi and Naruto himself that he would have to look out for.

He felt that a disguise would be neccessary to find where Naruto was currently staying, to get his plan working correctly.

Sasuke looked up from his musings to find himself heading towards Konoha's gates, and his form flickered from view, before vanishing altogether. He reappeared on the other side, shorter, stubbier and with sandy brown hair and dull grey eyes. His clothes looked grotty and he looked down at them with distaste. He was a very clean and neat person, and liked everything perfect. He glanced behind him at the gates and saw two men, sleeping side by side who were supposed to be guarding the village. He snorted, _So this is what Konoha has become after only a few years of peace? pathetic. _

He shook his head and headed towards the place where he _knew _either Naruto would be, or the shop keeper could tell him where Naruto was.

On his way, Sasuke found that nothing had changed since he had left, except that now a woman's face was carved into the large rock over-looking the village, next to the other Hokages. He assumed it to be the Tsunade that Orochimaru had mentioned a few times. Before he had even realised it, his feet had carried him straight to Naruto's favourite ramen stall. The man behind the table beamed down at him and swept his hand out to motion to the many available chairs. Sasuke nodded and smiled awkwardly back, sitting down in an old chair closest to a way out. It creaked when he put his full weight on it, and he wondered if it would break.

"What would you like, son?" Sasuke snapped his gaze to the old man and shook his head.

"Nothing," He paused, then looked around briefly before asking, "Have you seen Naruto around?"

The man behind the counter sighed heavily and stared off into nothingness, "None of us have seen Naruto since the...accident..."

_The accident? what accident? is Naruto..._ Sasuke was surprised to feel a jolt at the thought. Naruto couldn't possibly be...dead!

"Is he...de--"

"Dead! No, of course not!"

Sasuke let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding and mentally berrated himself for it.

"Haven't you heard? you mustn't be from around here," The old man pulled out a soaked, old rag and began wiping the counter, "No, Naruto was foolish enough to inflict a woman's wrath upon himself. Poor fella. Didn't see the earthquake heading for him until it was too late...Even Kakashi couldn't save him."

He stopped cleaning and leaned forward, motioning for Sasuke to move closer so he could tell him something in private, "I heard...that Kakashi was actually frozen to the spot...in _fear._"

The young man's eyes went wide and he stared in disbelief, earthquake? Kakashi frozen to the spot in fear! a woman's wrath! what the hell was going on!

He snapped out of the shock with a shake of his head and asked, "So...where's Naruto...?"

"Oh, he's in Konoha hospital, under the Hokage's assisstant's care." He winked at him, then turned away and wiped down the bench again, though it seemed he was spreading the grime, rather than cleaning it, "She's a toughie, that one. It's rumoured that she's the one who put him there."

"Why'd you want to kno--?" He looked up only to find that the mysterious boy had left. He shook his head and smiled, "Kids these days."

So, now he not only had to watch out for Kakashi and Naruto, Sasuke had to watch out for the mystery assisstant of the Hokage, too. He knew she would have to be extremely powerful for the woman to take her on as a student. He walked with his hands in his pockets towards the hospital, thinking. Perhaps rather than being sneaky, as everyone would expect that from an attack, he wondered if he should be upfront and just walk straight in and take Naruto. He decided that would be the best course of action, and if that backfired, he was confident he would be able to think on his toes.

He reached the massive building of Konoha hospital and idly wondered why every major place in the Narutoverse seemed to be so close together. He frowned and pushed the doors open, walking up to the main desk.

"Naruto's room?"

The nurse behind the desk blinked at him and the bluntness of his question and answered almost straight away, "Room B two"

He nodded and strode past her. Once he was out of anyone's sight he bolted up the stairs three at a time, until he reached the second level. Room B was only two doors to his left and he pushed the door open and walked right in without knocking. He didn't think there was any point, since he was kidnapping and all, and it was best to take Naruto by surprise. It was he, however, who was left surprised. He stood in the middle of the room, unsure of what he was seeing.

Naruto was in bed, bloody and bruised with grains of what seemed to be...dirt? smudged on his face. He was hooked up to many wires and machines that went _beep! _every now and then...He had a frozen look of terror on his face, too...

Sasuke made to reach out to his old friend to see if he was real, he was obviously distracted, because the next moment someone had ran into his back and he fell forward onto Naruto's bed.

"Oops! so sorry about that!" The someone was a young woman. She seemed...sweet...and then her voice switched, "Who the _hell _are you?"

He spun around to look at her, his mouth open as though he was going to say something. His words died on his lips.

Sakura stood in front of him, the clipboards she had dropped when she ran into Sasuke, lay forgotten at her feet. She looked shocked. Her pink hair was a mess and her medic coat was crumpled and creased at her sides where she was now clenching it.

"_Sasuke?"_

He looked down at himself and saw that he was, indeed, Sasuke. _Damnit! _


	3. That man

They stood there for a long while, each staring at the other. Sakura looked to be torn between screaming at him, hugging him or killing him. Sasuke just felt confused.

_Sakura's the Hokage's assisstant? but then that would mean...she's a medic ninja? _He frowned and swept a hand through his hair before shoving both into his pockets uncomfortably. He hadn't been counting on that.

Sakura took a step forward and tilted her head to the side, asking softly, "What are you doing here?"

There was no point in beating around the bush. "I'm here for Naruto. I'm taking him back to Orochimaru with me. If you leave this room willingly, I won't force you to sleep like last time."

He watched her wince and shift and thought that he had underestimated her bravery, but then saw her glance at the battered Naruto...almost guiltily?

No _way. _She _didn't. _

She backed herself up and kicked the door closed, "You're not leaving here with him!" she strode straight past him and he side stepped a nudge she aimed for him. She was standing in front of Naruto's bed, protective of her friend who was injured because of her. She honestly didn't think he was going to be out cold for this long! she didn't know the earthquake attack would be so strong! really, she had only meant to knock him out in the most painful way possible for three days.

"You'll have to go through me first!" Her angry green eyes narrowed and she planted her feet firmly to the ground, in a battle stance. Sasuke was mildly surprised that she was actually standing up to him. He glared at her disobedience. Where did the Sakura who adored him go?

_This has got to be upsetting some kind of balance, _he thought to himself.

As he stood there, thinking of 'the balance' he came to the conclusion that this was, in some way, somehow, _that _man's fault.

_I will kill _that _man...I swear it. _

Unfortunately for Sakura, she didn't have a hose and tap handy at that moment when Sasuke went into his 'how-shall-I-torture-_that_-man-mode?'. Instead, she stood there staring stupidly at him, her battle stance loosening up.

_I could strip his outer layer of skin while he's tied up, and force him to eat it...Hm..no, better not. I might be sick. _

Sakura squinted her eyes at him for a moment, and waved her hand in front of his face to see if he would respond. And guess what! he didn't! As quietly as she could, she pulled each wire from Naruto and turned off the many machines, they were just a prechaution, it wasn't like the blonde actually needed them to survive. She hoisted him up and over her shoulder, so he dangled halfway down her back and she crept out of the hospital room, hoping she could find Kakashi before Sasuke snapped out of it. She didn't want Tsunade to get involved, that would turn out bad for everyone.

Sasuke looked up and was about to say something, when he realised that he was alone. He growled in annoyance, "How dare she? I was plotting, damnit!"

He smoothed his hair back, he seemed to be doing that a lot lately, and calmed himself down. It would be fine, he would just beat Sakura into submission and steal Naruto. _Kakashi! _he slapped his forehead and ran to the only window in the room and lifted it open. He had forgotten all about Kakashi and that was probably where the pink haired girl was heading. He re-applied his disguise and leapt out of the window, landing on the ground, before shooting into the treetops, trying to detect Sakura's chakra.

_Damnit, she's hiding it._ He paused on a branch and took a deep, calming breath. It wasn't like him to get annoyed so easily, but he hadn't been expecting Sakura's appearance, and she was probably alerting Kakashi right at that moment.

His head snapped to the left and he caught the tell tale flashes of pink flitting in and out between the trees. His lips curled back in a vicious smile of triumph and he dropped his disguise.

_Well, that was lucky...No, wait, actually, I'm just _that _good. _He nodded firmly and hid his chakra before giving chase to the young woman.

oooooooooooooooooo

"Crappity, crap, crap, crap, crap!" Sakura glanced over her shoulder at the figure of dark blue following her and almost dropped Naruto as she stumbled on the branches that were fast passing her feet below. Sasuke seemed to take that as an invitation to pounce on her like a hungry lion. She could have yelped at the creepiness of it all. Instead, she dropped straight downwards, towards the ground and as soon as she hit with her knees bent, ran the other way.

Sasuke landed in front of her and she skidded to a stop. The young man in navy strode towards her and threw a well aimed punch at her head, at which point, she grinned cheekily and vanished in a puff of..._leaves?_

He twitched.

ooooooooooooooooo

Sakura grinned in victory, though inwardly she couldn't believe that Sasuke had fallen for such a trick. It was a child's trick for god's sake. Whenever someone activated a replacement justu, the oponent would look shocked! even though it happened all the time! they still became shocked. It irritated her, if _that _shocked them all the time, then they shouldn't be ninjas. She shook her head in disgust.

...And lucky she did, too. Because a kunai had just missed her head and went flying into a tree with a dull thump on contact with the trunk. Apparently the _real _Sasuke had been tracking her the entire time and she had gotten too cocky. It had almost cost her her life. So Sasuke wasn't going to go easy on her? Good. But she had to reach Kakashi in time, if she lost, then Naruto would be defenceless until he woke up, and it could be too late by then. She needed the copy ninja to take the blonde to safety.

An elbow came flying out of no where, it was attached to Sasuke - so have no fear about random flying elbows, and hammered in the place between her shoulder blades and she jerked forwards, her breath hitching. She gripped onto Naruto's leg as he slid off her shoulder and almost fell. She was sure she must have made for an interesting sight, a small woman holding a larger man by his leg from a tree branch, without even trying.

Sakura grit her teeth together in pain and tried to control her breathing as she set Naruto down and turned to face her attacker, who was on a sturdy branch oposite her.

"Fancy seeing you here, Sasuke!" The lack of 'kun' at the end of his name irritated Sasuke for a reason he couldn't pin point right at that moment.

"Hn. Hand over the idiot."

"Ummm, no. The last statement still stands, you have to go through me first!"

"How troublesome," He now understood Shikamaru's words fully, and found himself with a renewed respect for the man. He was just peeved with Sakura, though. He didn't want to hurt her, despite the whole throwing-a-dagger-aimed-for-her-head thing. He was just trying to scare her. He took a deep breath and looked her up and down, slipping into a battle stance. She hadn't changed much, perhaps a little taller, her hair was still short - to keep out of her way, he assumed - her clothes, if you could call them that as there was very little of them, he assumed were for fighting purposes so they wouldn't get in her way, too. What really stole his attention, though, were the muscles in her legs and arms that seemed bigger and more defined than his small, slimmer ones. Even _Sakura _looked more manly than him. He sighed, suddenly depressed by his lack of manliness and inwardly blamed _that _man again. It was so his fault.

Sakura sighed in exasperation and threw her hands up, "Sasuke, uh, the fight? remember?"

He snapped out of it with an "Oh." and stared at her coldly, for interupting his torture planning.

"Fine."

"Er...are you..._angry _at me?"

"Pfft."

_Psycho, _Sakura thought to herself and wondered just how much Sasuke had changed. He seemed very...prone to moodswings.

"Did you just call me a _psycho _in your mind?"

"No."

"Hn."

"Can we just fight?"

"I won't go easy on you, Sakura," He stared across at her and she frowned, thinking, _Since when have you _ever _gone easy on me? have we even fought before!_

She decided there was no point thinking about it, Sasuke was really confusing at the moment. She slid her right foot behind her and brought her left fist in front of her oposite, readying herself for the battle to come. The young man across from her was relieved that they were finally going to get the battle over and done with, even though it was partially his fault with the whole thoughts-of-torture thing that they were delayed. But he wouldn't think about that. It _was_ after all, all Sakura's fault. Oh, and _that _man's. Since you know, when _isn't _anything his fault.

"For god's sake, stop thinking about Itachi!"

Sasuke gasped almost in a girlish mannor at the mention of his brother's name, "...Shut up!"

It was then that he realised that he was going to have to think up a childish name to call Sakura, like the whole idiot thing with Naruto.


	4. So the plot thickens

"No...YOU shut up!"

"No! YOU shut up!"

"No! YOU shut up first!"

"Only if you shut up before me!"

"...That makes no sense!" Sakura stomped her foot on the branch angrily.

"Heh. Give up yet?" Sasuke, to the shock of everyone on the planet, who all paused to see if this was the apocolypse, smirked in an amused manner. Sakura just seemed even more annoyed. She was surprised herself, at how much more mature she was than the young man across from her. She had always thought of Sasuke as the more serious one, but here he was, arguing with her. Maybe it was a good thing she dropped her crush for him, she would hate to have actually ended up with him. She shuddered at the thought.

"Can we just get this over and done with, so I can take Naruto to Kakashi's and alert him of your appearance, so a great big battle can happen which inevitably ends with Naruto waking up just before we lose to save everyone with an impossible attack that shouldn't workbut somehow manages to have a logical excuse for happening?" She sucked in a deep breath and looked at Sasuke, who seemed to have fallen asleep.

"Sasuke!"

"I'm awake!"

Sakura growled and decided it was going to be up to her to begin the fight. She charged him head on and his smirk widened visibly, three black commas appearing before swirling around the pupil of his glowing red eyes. He activated the Sharingan with the hopes of ending the battle quickly, the game had already lasted long enough. Sakura backed him up the branch slowly, using her flurry of punches and kicks to herd him off the edge. She paused and ducked as a long, slender leg went soaring over her head in a smooth round house kick. It was followed up by a quick jab at her neck, which she had to avoid by bending backwards, her back cracking all the way until her hands hit the ground and she lifted her legs up, kicking him under the chin and sending him stumbling. She flipped backwards two times and landed back into her stance.

Sasuke felt his chin for any lasting damage and met Sakura's eyes. He was impressed and he nodded once in what was his way of approval. He launched himself into the air and sent two kunais flying in her direction, which she dodged with a little too much ease. She glanced back at the blades, buried into the branch and and saw the explosion tags tied to the ends. She swore and ran along the branch, leaping to the other side to where Naruto lay motionless. She threw him over her shoulder and jumped out of range as the entire tree exploded and sent sharp pieces of bark in every direction. The pink haired woman jerked forward when a long jagged piece of wood hit her in the calf and a few more smaller pieces hammered into Naruto's back.

"Naruto!" She carefully put him on the ground and ripped out the evil pieces of tree that wounded him. As she put her hands over his back to heal him, before Sasuke came to fight again, she was kicked roughly out of the way, by none other than Sasuke himself! Sakura decided, as she groaned and stood up, that this wasn't her day. Sasuke started to lift Naruto over his shoulder when he was spin kicked across the face three times with the girl's injured leg and the blonde was yanked from his grasp.

Sakura backed away limping, her leg now screaming at her in pain from using it, watching him warily while holding Naruto close to her in a way much like an over protective sister.

Sasuke wiped the blood from his mouth and approached his old teammate with a frustrated glint in his eye, cracking his neck from side to side. He took a kunai out from a hidden holster and spun it in his hand, speaking casually, "It would be in your best interest to put the idiot down. You probably haven't noticed, but you have a large piece of wood sticking out of your leg."

She wondered how she could have ever missed it, as it was most likely _buried right into her freaking bone! _

"Oh? I had no idea, thankyou for pointing out the obvious, what would I ever do without you?"

He stopped a few metres away from her and smiled in a way that made her feel uncomfortable.

"You choose death, then?" Of course, he didn't have any _real _intention of killing her. But scare tactics were always worth a try.

He appeared behind her in a flash and she tensed. He leaned close to her ear, and in a mock whisper said, "..._Thankyou.." _

Sasuke aimed a swift blow to the back of Sakura's neck, to knock her out, and his fist was deftly caught by the kunoichi's hand. She looked more furious and hurt than he thought he had ever seen her, even when they were teammates. She clenched his hand until a loud series of cracks could be heard and he tried to pull away. She spoke then, filled with hate, and squeezed his fist harder with each word, "You. Are. Annoying."

Her oposite hand came out and took hold of Sasuke's arm and she began spinning on her uninjured foot, "Have a nice flight, now, Sasuke-_kun."_

His eyes widened and he was sent soaring, rocketing up into the trees and into the air above. Well, at least he would have a chance to think about Sakura's significant rise in strength.

Meanwhile, down on earth, Sakura fell backwards and sat staring at her leg that was becomming more painful by the second. She knew that she should take the splintering wood out, to stop infection, but it was acting as a plug right now and if she took it out, she was sure there would be a whole lot of blood. She hastily pulled a piece of scrap paper and a pencil from her bag and scribbled a note, in case she didn't make it, to Kakashi. She was positive that his tracker dogs would find it before any one else.

_Dear Kakashi, if you're reading this, I'm probably dead or something. _

_And if I AM dead, I am so going to haunt you. Sasuke's here, he came for Naruto but we fought._

_He's heading for Orochimaru's hide out, they're after the Kyuubi._

_Sakura._

She scrunched the paper up into a ball and tossed it into a nearby bush, just in time to look up and see Sasuke flying towards her, fist out, Superman style.

"AHHHHH!" she rolled backwards and he landed a bit to her left. She stood up and focused a moment, a bolt of electricty like chakra racing down her arm before she slammed her closed fist below, the earth tearing in half at the contact and the split heading towards a stunned Uchiha.

_No _way, He thought to himself, _I have to finish this now. I shouldn't have played around this long._

He raced across one side of the split, the commas of his Sharingan spinning around his pupil like crazy. He had arrived in front of Sakura before she could even blink and she was immediately frozen to the spot, staring into his eyes. He didn't blink, and neither did she. He had taken her by surprise and so she had been unable to break out of the hypnosis in time.

She dropped to the ground, her green eyes wide and unblinking.

Sasuke looked down at her and sighed, moving around her to bend down and pick up Naruto. He was about to walk away when he heard a voice that sounded very much like Kakashi's summon dog, Pakkun.

"They're over here!"

_Well, shit. _He glanced back at Sakura's motionless body and sighed heavily. He couldn't leave any evidence, and Sakura would surely tell Kakashi all about what happened as soon as she woke up. He moved back and swept her up onto his other shoulder, where she hung limply.

By the time Kakashi had entered the area where Sakura and Sasuke had battled, there was no one in sight. He winced, taking in the shattered ground and the blood that had pooled where his pink haired student had laid only moments before. In the middle of the puddle was the large piece of wood that had become unlodged from her leg, causing her to bleed profusely. His eye followed the bloody trail that the enemy had obviously missed. He didn't know whether it was Sakura's blood or Naruto's, but whoever's it was, he pitied. They would need to be healed soon or they would die from blood loss or infection.

"I've found something!" Kakashi turned towards the voice and Pakkun trotted out to him with a scrunched up piece of paper in his mouth. He dropped it at the copy ninja's feet and he picked it up, trying to ignore the drool hanging from the letter in ropes, reading it over twice, just to make sure he had understood correctly.

He looked back towards the blood, that he now knew to be Sakura's and felt anger bubble inside of him, at Sasuke.

"Let's go." without another word, Kakashi took to the trail of blood and hoped that he could find his students before anything else could happen to them.

* * *

Hello, viewers! thankyou very much for all the wonderful reviews! I really appreciate them, and a couple of you have given me ideas, so thanks for that, too! XD So, yes...thought I should say thankyou. Which I've said three times. Go me!


	5. The medic Ninja

Sakura woke up to realise two things. One, her head was bumping against something firm and two, her upper half was upside down, so _really _her upper half wasn't really her upper half anymore. She frowned for a moment and contemplated on the things, and what they might mean for her. She also wondered why the hell her leg felt like it was being stabbed by a million little pins dipped in the most painful poison ever. She decided that if it _was_ poison, then that would explain why she could feel a constant wetness running down her calf and into the bottom of her boot.

It would also explain why...she had just fallen unconcious again.

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder and down at Sakura, who had just groaned, tried to move then had passed out again. He wondered idly if something was wrong, since the Sharingan's hypnosis effect should have worn off a while ago. He had even had a blanket ready to toss on her when she woke up, so he could blind and restrain her before she did that...scary..earth shattering thing again. He shuddered and patted Naruto, who was still passed out on his other shoulder, on the back in sympathy. Well, at least his old team mate wasn't screaming at him or anything. Her voice could get very loud...

Sasuke was right, the Sharingan's effects had nothing to do with why she was still unconcious. She was actually leaving a long trail of darkening blood from the wound in her leg, and was suffering from severe blood loss. It was only when he finally stopped to make camp for the night did he find out what was going on. He had laid both Naruto and Sakura down side by side close to the fire he made, and was moving to throw a blanket over the two when he spotted the pink haired girl's leg. He leaned over her to inspect the wound and swallowed. Her calf had a five centimetre hole that was partially opened, the skin around it curled back with a purple tinge to it. Her entire leg up to her thigh had a purple tinge and there was still a bit of blood bubbling around the wound.

_She's a medic ninja, right? she can fix herself, _He thought to himself, his forehead wrinkling, _She needs to wake up before she looses all of her chakra._

Sasuke gripped the girl's shoulders and shook her roughly, so roughly that before he could move, her arm came flying out of no where and smacked him over the head.

"Ugh! damnit, Sakura!" He rubbed the back of his head and one of Sakura's eyes cracked open slowly, followed by the other. She groaned pitifully and looked up at him.

Sasuke sat there, staring as he watched the girl's inner battle, _Ooooh...she looks mad...no wait! in pain...no...confused...no, not that...tired? hey, what's _that

Sakura went into the pissed off stage and smacked him over the head again.

_Oh..._that's _what it was. _

He slipped his hand under her back and she looked like she was going to punch him where it hurt most. He ignored her and pressed his hand to the small of her back to help her sit up. She winced when her leg shifted and she gazed away at their surroundings to keep her mind off the pain...and realised...they were still in Konoha forest..?

Sasuke saw her look around and muttered, "You have no idea how heavy you guys are. You both slowed me down."

"Are you calling me _fat?" _The pink haired girl's voice went shrill.

"No."

"Good answer."

"Hn. Anyway, I woke you up for a reason, so just forgetting that I kidnapped both you and the idiot over there," he jerked his thumb in Naruto's direction, "You're injured, and if you don't heal yourself in let's say...an hour, maybe less, you'll be dead." He then pointed down at her leg, and her eyes followed his lead.

"Oh man."

"Yeah..."

She pushed him out of the way rudely, and come on, he deserved it after everything he did. She shifted her leg to the side to make the healing process more easier on herself and placed her dirtied hands above the wound. They glowed bright blue for a moment, and Sasuke thought that he saw a bolt of electricity like last time. Judging by Sakura's skill, it seemed to the Uchiha that this probably wouldn't take too long, despite how deep the injury was. He was surprised that the girl was even able to focus, let alone alive enough to do this.

_But still, _he thought to himself, looking around desperately, _this won't take long, I'm going to need something to restrain her. _

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Back in Snake-man's evil lair, he was plotting a plot to rival all great plots that were good...and stuff. And possibly evil, because that was always the plotting way. Where was the use in a plot if it wasn't absolutely diabolical...and evil?

He was crouched in front of his "throne" trying to stare it down with his squinted eyes. He had tried everything to dominate it, ranging from trying to seduce it, trying to make it cry and even trying to propose to it, but gosh darnit, nothing worked! how was he meant to destroy the world's population of cows if he couldn't even figure out how to take down what they were covered with! HOW!

_Damned cows...damned tasty cows! DAMNED LEATHER!_

He sighed and backed away from it, vowing to destroy it, right after he finished his meeting over a cup of tea, with the Akatsuki.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"So...what qualifications do you hope to bring to our joined organisations, should we choose to keep you on board, Uchiha Itachi?" Orochimaru took a small sip of his tea and placed the china cup down on the table separating both men, carefully.

"Well, I'm mainly here to torment my little brother," The elder Uchiha answered emotionlessly, "Oh, and to rape, pillage and neat things like that. I also have this really awesome eye trick. Maybe you've heard of it, the Sharingan?" He stared at the Snake-Man unblinking.

Orochimaru shifted under Itachi's stare and leaned forward seriously, changing the subject, "How do you feel about...cows...?"

"Don't get me started. Especially on their damned leather products."

"Welcome aboard!"

"Hn."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Kabuto walked at Orochimaru's side as they strode down the blood stained hall of eternal screams, and had been musing over the prospect of having both Sasuke and Itachi in the same area as eachother.

"Are you sure it's wise?"

"Of course it is! it would be like a battle royale, only not!" Orochimaru rubbed his hands together eagerly and licked his lips, "Sasuke-kun will be sharing his room. Imagine the pillow fights!"

_I can have pillow fights, too, you know. _Kabuto thought bitterly to himself, but instead said outloud, "I do not think it would be a good idea. We may lose both Uchihas in the process, I doubt Akatsuki will be happy about losing one of their most prized missing ninjas."

"You worry about foolish things, what you _should _be worried about are the cows who have been trying to make a fool out of me."

"Cows? what cows?"

"Haven't you been listening to a word I've said?"

Kabuto sighed heavily, and wished he could just curl up in bed with his favourite 'Rochi-chan live sized doll. But no, it seemed that the gods were going to be cruel to him today. They didn't even let him wash Orochimaru's back when he bathed this morning!

_Speaking of bathing, _The younger ninja eyed Snake-Man's greasy hair with distaste, _If only he'd let me wash it...just once...then I might feel the black silk running through my fingers..._

"Why are you staring at my hair, Kabuto?"

_Ah, I love how my name rolls from his tongue, like some fine wine. _

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

"You were SERIOUS!" Sakura screamed and heaved another boulder off the ground and took aim at Sasuke's head, "YOU WERE GOING TO KILL NARUTO! FOR THAT PAEDOPHILE!"

"Were? I still am. And what the hell do you mean by paedophile!" she tossed the massive rock at him and he caught it, immediately stumbling and dropping it on his foot. He swore and tore his foot back.

"It's so obvious Orochimaru wants you! you're like eighty years younger than him or something, for god's sake! it's not right!" The girl cried and threw her hands in the air.

"That's disgusting."

"Oh, come on. We _all _know that all he wants is to get you and Itachi in the same room so he can watch you have a pillow fight and get all sweaty."

"Don't say _that _name! don't ever say it!"

"Get over, Sasuke."

He growled and moved towards her...and promptly retreated when she picked up a particularly massive, jagged rock.

He sat down, sulky, and turned away from her. Sakura sighed and lowered the rock.

"He does _not _want to see us pillow fight," Sasuke almost pouted. _Almost. _

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"The pillow-fight room has been organised and launched!" Orochimaru clapped his hands together and grinned pervertedly, "Time for some Uchiha action!"

Kabuto twitched, and wondered what was wrong with _his _pillows.

Snake-man suddenly turned on him and he felt his heartbeat quicken.

"Kabuto...?" The elder man asked softly.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama!" _Hm, my voice went a little high at the end there._

"I want you..." Kabuto's eyes went wide and he flushed, "to file the report on how the world wide destruction of cows is going."

"Oh. Okay, Orochimaru-sama."

"Why are you so red? it's not hot here for a reason. To you know, stop the heat."


	6. Taking charge

Sakura took a deep breath. She was going to do it, she was going to take the direct approach. She was going to take charge, damnit!

Sasuke cracked an eye open and muttered from the spot beneath a nearby tree, where he had been "sleeping", "Step away from Naruto, Sakura."

Sakura turned to face him with an odd look on her face, almost as if something obvious had just dawned on her. They were in the Konoha forest still, there were ANBU, they were still in the Konoha forest! KAKASHI!

The Uchiha didn't like the look she had on her face and he pushed himself up into a standing position, moving towards her with a hand outstretched. The pink haired girl smirked, and opened her mouth...and let out the most ear shattering scream he had ever heard. His previously outstretched hand, as well as his other hand immediately clapped to his ears and he groaned in pain.

_Not good, not good, not good, not good. _Sasuke tackled her to the ground and covered her mouth, glaring at her. She bit his hand in reply and headbutted him. He snarled. _Oh, you are so going down! _

They were rolling around for a good minute, until they heard someone next to them mumble, "Sakura-chan? I wasn't spying on you when you went to the bath house, I swear!"

Sakura lay under Sasuke's body and they were both staring at Naruto, who was inches from the girl's head. Her face was slowly growing red, from anger, towards both of the boys. She let out another screech and threw the Uchiha clean off her and into a nearby tree. She then hurled a massive rock at Naruto, and luckily for him Sasuke had recovered fast enough to catch it and, well, let it fall on him instead.

The girl moved to Naruto and threw him over her shoulder, ANBU or Kakashi would be there any moment, but she needed to get Naruto away from it all.

_At least he's finally starting to wake up, _she thought, twitching as she remembered what he mumbled before.

She was at least proud of her self that she had made it five metres before thin wires wrapped around her and bound her to the tree Sasuke had been sleeping below fifteen minutes ago. Naruto dropped to the ground and groaned, rolling onto his back.

Sakura felt as though she was ready to snap and just kill everyone in the area. She took a deep, shuddering breath and attempted to calm herself down. It didn't really work. Especially since Sasuke was all in her face with that stupid smirk of his. She tilted her face away from his and looked down at the waking Naruto.

"Naruto! wake up, now!" She yelled and moved her head away from the Uchiha when he tried to cover her mouth again, "Hurry up, damnit!"

It wasn't working and Sasuke had a grip on her pink hair to keep her still, so he could shut her up. Before she had the chance to think on it, she screamed, "RAMEN!"

The blonde jerked awake and leapt to his feet, stumbling from a wave of dizziness. But no! that wouldn't keep him from his beloved ramen. NEVER!

In his stumble, though, he had inadvertantly knocked Sasuke out of the way and was now staring at the tied up Sakura, who looked very annoyed with either him or the Uchiha, he couldn't tell. He took in her battered appearance though, and growled.

_I will kill whoever did this to my Sakura-chan! _He vowed silently.

He tore through the wire with his fingernails and held his arms out to catch the fragile, glass-like, ever so beautiful cherry blossom. He did it carefully, of course, he didn't want the girl to break in his embrace.

"..." Sakura kicked him in the groin, and he went down like a stack of bricks.

"Took you long enough! Sasuke could have gotten us to Orochimaru's hideout, and you would be DEAD! do you understand!"

"Sasuke?"

"Oh, he's under you."

"Oh..." Naruto got up and looked down at Sasuke, who was looking very flat at the moment. He wasn't having very much luck that night.

"Did you scream before, Sakura-chan? where's Kakashi?"

"I don't know! he and the other ANBU should have been here ages ago!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Are you sure you don't mind us borrowing your Icha Icha collection, Kakashi?"

"No, not at all. As long as you read them here, now and never, ever take them out of my sight. Or I will kill each of you, in the most slow and painful way possible."

A scream echoed throughout the village and the ANBU team stared at eachother in turn.

"Uh, what was that?" asked a man wearing a frog mask.

"Ah, it's the wonders of Icha Icha paradise, they seem so real that you can actually _hear _the screams of pleasure," said Kakashi wisely and the others nodded like they were his students.

"Now, sit, children! it is story time!"

"Didn't you call us here about a trail of blood you were following - -"

"_Story time. New Icha Icha book out._"

Kakashi wondered why he had this weird nagging feeling that someone he cared for very much was in trouble.

Konoha was so screwed. Maybe even literally, the way the men were going!

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"What's going on?" asked Naruto. The two were still in the same spot, except now they were both sitting on a squirming Sasuke, who kept muttering curses at them, and how this was all _that _man's fault.

"Oh, Sasuke kidnapped us so he could take you to Orochimaru, so he could draw out the kyuubi. Dunno what he wants with it, though." Sakura boredly smacked Sasuke on the head and he stopped moving.

"Why did he kidnap you, then?"

"Probably for evidence reasons," She shrugged.

"Okay, well, I'll pretend that I understand all this, okay, Sakura-chan?"

"Okay, Naruto," She smiled, and leaned over to hug him, "I'm really glad you're okay...I'm sorry for knocking you out for so long."

"It's alright...I guess deserved it," He laughed and rubbed the back of his neck, "...but I never got to give you your birthday present!"

"Forget it, we'll be back in Konoha by tomorow anyway."

"No, you won't," mumbled Sasuke.

"What was that, emo boy?"

"Sakura-chan, what's an emo?"

"Hmph!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Where _is _he! he's spoiling my beautiful plans! he was meant to be here days ago!" Orochimaru threw his hands into the air and twirled around in distress. Although, no one really understood why he would be twirling around if he was in distress. Kabuto sighed and placed a gentle hand on the elder ninja's shoulder.

"Orochimaru-sama, I'm sure he's almost here. If you like I will go out personally, and find him."

"Thankyou, Kabuto...I can always rely on you!"

_You have no idea how much... _Kabuto thought as he looked away dramatically, deftly catching the crystaline tears, with his perfectly soft, porceline hands, that fell like giant raindrops from his sparkling eyes. Eyes that were burdened with so much emotion!

Orochimaru walked out of the room with a giant sweep of his arm that knocked down many randoms who were present at that moment.

The younger ninja sighed softly as he stared dreamily at Orochimaru's retreating back, _If only..._

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"You are annoying, forehead girl."

Sakura barked out a laugh at the petty attempt at an insult from Sasuke, "_That's _the best you can do? you're one of the best ninjas who _used _to be from Konoha," She paused and glared down at him, "And _that's _the only thing you could come up with?"

He murmered, "So, Kabuto is coming. Perhaps it is time I summon the snakes."

"The snakes!" He definately had both Sakura's and Naruto's attention now and they jumped off him, each slipping into their separate stances.

"Actually, I was kidding. Kabuto's already here."

"He's wha--"

Kabuto slammed the two team mates' heads together and a loud crack echoed around the area. He caught them under his arms as they collapsed.

"Hm. They haven't improved _that _much. Although, I must say, they gave _you _a lot of trouble, Sasuke-kun," He sneered in the direction of the Uchiha, who was getting to his feet, "Especially the girl, so it would seem."

"I don't see what Orochimaru-sama sees in you, other than the Sharingan, of course."

"Hn."

The silver haired ninja turned away and began walking in the direction that he had come, his form fading to mist. As he vanished completely, his voice echoed around Sasuke from all sides, "Dear Sasuke-kun, doesn't Orochimaru-sama have a most spectacular surprise for you when you return!"

The Uchiha shuddered at the cold laugh that followed Kabuto's words. The Snake-Man wasn't going to be happy with him at all. He made a couple of seals and vanished closer to the hideout so he could run the rest of the way, and wear off some of the anger he was feeling before he faced the old man. It wouldn't do to lose his temper, he was sure he was in enough trouble as it was.


	7. Whoring out

Orochimaru stared down at the two teenagers and frowned at Sakura's appearance in particular. What was she doing there too? And why did she look so much like Tsunade? And how was he going to pay to house an extra person, damnit! Then again...Snake-Man suddenly spun away from the two lying in a heap on the floor and stroked his chin in thought.

_Perhaps she could earn her pay...and a little extra for moi...AS A WHORE!_

He paused a moment, and thought of the consequences for that one, _Hm...Even if Sasuke-kun _is _on our side, he may not be happy with his old team mate selling her...Tsunade-like body. Although...she doesn't really have much of a chest._

He nudged Sakura's chest and shook his head in disgust, _Nope, we'll have to think of something else. _

"What are you doing?"

Sasuke had arrived only moments ago and was standing behind Orochimaru, wondering what the hell he was doing to his old team mate, and what was going to come next of all of these plots of evil!

"I am wondering how we are going to pay for an extra person to stay here, because someone, namely _you, _couldn't handle the task of kidnapping the kyuubi. Really, Sasuke-kun, I am deeply disappointed with you."

"She could stay in my room."

"No, I have rented part of your room out to someone else."

"Who?"

"Ah, now that is one of life's mysterious...mysteries, Sasuke-kun," The old man picked Sakura up by the arm and she hung there limply, "No, I'm afraid she's going to have to stay in the dungeons until we think of a use for her. I doubt it would be wise for us to destroy someone who is so obviously close to Tsunade-sama, that she would look almost the same. She could be useful later."

With their conversation finished, he tossed the girl to Sasuke, who caught her easily and moved out of the room to take her to her new living quarters. He glanced over his shoulder at the last moment and saw Naruto with his arm outstretched to where Sakura had once been lying. He sighed and shook his head.

"Are we out of the room yet?" Sakura mumbled with her eyes still closed.

"Great, you're awake," replied the Uchiha sarcastically with a roll of his eyes and he quickened his pace towards the dungeons. His old team mate didn't fail to notice this and she took a grip on his arm, opening her green eyes wide. She dug her nails into him painfully and he growled at her.

"Put me down."

"I can't."

"He's going to kill Naruto."

"I know."

She stared up at him, torn between resorting to anger or hysterics when she felt something sharp pierce her to the left of her spine. She tried to open her mouth to scream at him, at the world in general, she tried to kick, punch and scratch but her body wouldn't move. Her breath hitched and her heart began racing.

"You won't be able to move for a few hours," He leaned closer and whispered into her ear, "I have to let him have the kyuubi, even if it's at the cost of Naruto's life. It's the only way I can kill _that _man. Just...give up. Your struggling will only make everything worse, especially the temporary poison I gave you. When it's done I'll come back for you, and I'll find a way to take you back."

Sakura panicked and felt her throat close up, she wanted so badly to say, _When this is over and done with, I will kill you myself._

"Sakura, calm down."

All she was able to get out was a small growl and her chest tightened as she continued to struggle.

"Sakura, stop, you're going to kill yourself!"

A small trickle of blood ran from the corner of her mouth and Sasuke yelled in disgust, hitting a pressure point to her neck that caused her to immediately slump with her eyes half open. He saw that they had arrived at the dungeons a long time ago and he walked carefully down the hall to the end cell. It was the only half decently clean one, that didn't already have someone dying or someone already dead in it. The entire place stunk of death and rotting flesh and every now and then a scream would echo from the torture chamber that was only the next room down.

Sasuke moved the pink haired girl to one arm and pulled a key out of his pocket to open the bared door. He walked into the cell and carefully laid her on the ground on her side, should she vomit from the poison's effects. He sat on the floor next to her, and seeing that no one was watching, dragged a shaky hand through his black hair with a shuddering breath. Everything was out of control. He only wanted to kill his brother, for god's sake, was he asking for so much! He didn't want the only friends he had ever known to get dragged into it. He didn't even want to think what would happen to Sakura when this was all over. And it would be his fault, too. Even Naruto, heck, he was annoying but he never wanted the blonde to die.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes tight. He didn't know how long he sat there, and he only moved when he heard a series of pain filled screams, coming not from the torture room, but the hall leading to Orochimaru's main room. He half leaned out of the cell and peeked around the corner to the still open door. He flinched back when darts of blood came spraying towards him and hit the wall above his head. He stared at it and swallowed.

"I guess Naruto's awake, then." An ear splitting roar and the ground shaking beneath him were enough of an answer for him.

Sasuke hurried out of the cell and locked it behind him, then bolted out into the hall as fast as his legs would carry him. He skidded around three corners before he found where the trouble was. He stared in disbelief.

Naruto stood ten metres in front of him, hunched over with his hands at his sides, massive claws protruding from his fingertips. The same claws were growing at his toes and his shoes were ripped open. His hair seemed to grow slightly longer and was far more spiked than usual. The blonde was constantly making a growling sound with every breath he took. What really took the Uchiha's attention, though, were the five partially see through tails, waving back and forth from Naruto's buttocks. A sixth tail was partially grown.

The kyuubi in the blonde let out another shattering roar and the floor cracked further around them. Orochimaru was conjuring up something to bind the young man down so he could reseal the monster in him. A tail whipped out with a crack and sent the old man flying into a wall. He hissed in anger and pain, feeling his pride go down in front Sasuke, who was staring at him.

Naruto caught Orochimaru looking behind him and turned to see what he was staring at. Sasuke took a step backwards before he could catch himself. The blonde's canines had elongated into fangs and he had long whiskers sticking out from his cheeks. His clothes looked to be ripping themselves into shreds, just to get away from the beyond powerful aura radiating from the Uchiha's old team mate. His bright crimson eyes went wide in realization of who was standing in front of him, and he snarled out a barely recognizable sentence.

"Growly mc growl growl Sakura-chan!"

Sasuke blinked and decided he must have been asking where Sakura was. He glanced at Orochimaru who looked furious that his plan had backfired. Naruto's voice rose and he asked again, more clearly, with an edge that promised pain to all who didn't answer him.

"Where. Is. Sakura-chan?"

_Do I tell him? _

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Sakura woke up to find herself in a smelly, dark cell. Oh, and all of her muscles ached. A lot.  
Upon realization that she could actually move and speak now, she almost cheered, but held it in when she glanced out of the steel bars that kept her in. A wide river of blood was traveling along the stone ground in front of her and flowing into the torture room, causing renewed screams from the area, though more from fear than pain.

A furious roar followed the blood and the girl had to clap her hands over her ears to keep them from bleeding. The ground shook beneath her feet as the sound continued to grow louder, and louder.

"Ugh! what _is _that!" Only a collection of groans from the dying people in the other cells answered her, although she couldn't hear any of them over the dominating noise. At one point, she thought she picked up her own name, but shook her head in denial.

The noise finally died down and she was able to move her hands and try to figure out a way to get out of this mess.

She glanced from her hands to the ground and a massive grin broke across her face. A little concentration, and the tell tale spark of blue chakra raced down her arms and to her clenched fists. She thought back to Orochimaru and Sasuke and what they planned to do to Naruto, _You better be ready for this, bastards. _

The ground and the holding cell around her were promptly torn to shreds and it collapsed.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Orochimaru, Sasuke and the transformed Naruto fell to the ground together as the entire underground hideout began to shake. A series of vine like cracks started appearing in the walls and bits and pieces of dubree fell and cracked on the stone floor. All three ninjas had to leap to the left side of the room as the entire floor split down the middle and divided until there was a five metre wide hole.

They gaped in shock for what seemed like ...oh, say...two or three minutes?

A blur of pink and red shot past the entryway and the males looked up in unison and stared, as the running person swore, then skidded to a halt and ran backwards into the room.

"Oh. There you all are."

Sakura leaned against the doorway, huffing and puffing, and she was holding onto a severed bar of steel from the cell that she had taken as a weapon. Sasuke eyed the bar and took a step closer to Naruto, possibly hoping for some protection. Naruto gulped, and knew this had to do with the Uchiha and he was probably going to get hurt if he was anywhere near the missing ninja. He stood at what he felt was a safe distance from Sasuke, which actually turned out to be at the other end of the room with Orochimaru.

The pink haired girl side stepped over one of the smaller cracks in the ground and moved to the left side of the room. When she was closer to everyone else, she stopped and stared sharply at Naruto, who now had six tails waving about behind him. It would seem, though, that Kyuubi had abandoned him and had shut himself back into the cage upon seeing the mass destruction Sakura could cause. Naruto winced and all of the tails sucked back up into him with a squeak.

"I-I'm glad you're okay, Sakura-chan!"

"Quiet!"

"Okay."

Orochimaru stood against the wall he had been thrown at and observed the scene before him. _MY PLAN IS RUINED! There will be no pillow fight with Sasuke-kun and his brother! Curses._

_I am _not _happy._

Sakura turned to face the Snake-Man and some of her fiery attitude died down, "Um...I'll pay for the damage?"

"How _dare _you!"

"You started it!"


	8. Cow skins

Sasuke began to move stealthily from the destroyed room to safety from both the scary Snake-Man and his old team mate, who seemed to be getting more edgy by the minute. Maybe he should have used a stronger poison, one that would have knocked her out for a couple of weeks.

_I'm too kind… _he thought to himself with an inner sigh.

Naruto caught sight of the Uchiha trying to escape and pointed, about to yell out. It seemed that he wouldn't have to stop him, as his old team mate ran straight into someone who had been entering the room at the same time.

"Orochimaru, I slaughtered those cows around the back—oof!"

"_ITACHI!"_

Ah, how everything was slowly turning out to be a hap-happy reunion. Sasuke, who had only been focusing on his mission, ran straight into his brother, Itachi, who was there to tell Orochimaru the good news of his slaughter. The race of cows would surely be destroyed in time for tea, the way the elder Uchiha was going.

Itachi looked down his nose at his little brother with distaste and made to swat him away like he was an annoying little fly. And being the annoying little fly he was, Sasuke dodged out of the way and hovered inches from the other's face, glaring.

"Buzz off, annoying fly from my backside," The older brother said in his usual emotionless tone.

"You killed our parents!"

"Yes, I am perfectly aware of that."

"I will kill you."

"That's nice. I need to go speak with the grown ups now, little brother, so go play with your friends." He flicked Sasuke on the forehead and approached where Orochimaru and Sakura were having a glaring match with each other. Snake-Man was doing most of the glaring, while Sakura just looked really scared.

Sasuke stood there, his fists clenched at his sides, shaking while he silently seethed.

_I will _kill _that man…_

Naruto had snuck up on the younger Uchiha while he had been going through the whole I-will-kill-that-man-thing and was staring at him curiously; wondering what could possibly be running through his mind.

_If Naruto doesn't get out of my face right now, I'm going to skin him._

The blonde's face suddenly took on a serious and slightly sad look and Sasuke began to dread what he would say next.

"Why do you always want to kill me?"

"Hn."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Sakura froze when she felt someone behind her, breathing down her neck in an extremely creepy way. It was Itachi, and he was staring straight at Orochimaru with the cow skins he carried outstretched to the older man.

"Here are your…cow skins…"

"Ah, I'm in the middle of something at the moment, Itachi."

"I said, here are your cow skins."

Sakura looked from one man to the other and sighed, snatching the cow skins from Itachi.

"There, _I'll _take your damned cow skins," She rolled her eyes at their childishness, then realized what she was holding and dropped them immediately, "UGH! _Cow skins!"_

She suddenly looked as though she would vomit. Itachi looked torn between shock and rage that the foolish girl had _dared _to snatch anything away from him.

Sasuke suddenly appeared by Itachi and began trying to push him over, "You _killed _our parents! I hate you! I'm going to kill you!"

"Alright. I shall pay you this attention that you obviously so desperately need, but only to repeat what you've been ignoring the past ten years," He paused for a moment and almost looked thoughtful. _Almost. _Because if ever the elder Uchiha showed emotion, it would signal the apocalypse, "Hm. Actually, I've forgotten. You know, that really long line you usually remember in your angsty flashbacks? Yeah. I can't remember it. Hm."

Itachi turned away from his little brother and glared at Sakura in a way that said, 'You had _so_ better pick up those cow skins and grovel at my feet, or you will be torn limb from limb.'

Sasuke was ready to kill his brother. He was. He absolutely was. He absopositively was.

Sakura shakily picked up the cow skins and handed them to Orochimaru. Itachi nodded to her in a way that said, 'Yes, pathetic mortal girl child. You will live another day.' And then spun on his heel and walked out of the room. Never to be seen ever again…

…until tea time!

Sasuke looked ready to cry, his self hate striking back in full force. He had missed his chance, because he was weak, and pitiful, and because he was a really big loser.

Naruto walked up behind him and patted his shoulder, even though the heartless bastard had just tried to kill him. And not for the first time, either. The blonde was a very forgiving person. That's why in Sasuke's moment of weakness, he gave him a really massive wedgy and laughed hysterically. It almost seemed like old times, except it was Naruto picking on Sasuke. And Sakura and Orochimaru were facing off, oh, and they were in the Snake-Man's torn-to-shreds underground hideout.

Speaking of Orochimaru and Sakura, they were currently a few metres from the other bickering pair and were glaring at each other, although the pink haired girl's glare wasn't quite as well trained as the older man's.

"Aren't we meant to face off, and like, you know, try to kill each other and then when I faint for no reason, Naruto will save me and Sasuke will change sides at the last moment and together they'll beat you?"

"No, that's not until another twenty five episodes of us doing nothing but having random flashbacks and glaring at each other."

"Ohhh," Sakura frowned, "You know, this all reminds me of this show I used to watch. It was called Dragon Ball Z and it took like fifty episodes for this guy named Frieza to get his ass kicked."

"I wasn't aware that we had television here."

"We don't. I don't know why I said all that."

"Hm…"


	9. Sakura never lies

So twenty five flash backs and evil glares later, and a little change to the script, Sakura _didn't _faint, Naruto stood at her side, ready to fight with his team mate and Sasuke stood to the side sulking about his little run in with Itachi.

He looked up and glared accusingly at Orochimaru, "_He _was the one you were going to lock me up in my room to have pillow fights with, wasn't he! Sakura was right!"

Orochimaru twitched in annoyance at the girl who was causing him so much trouble. He ought to just squish her into dust now. He squinted his eyes at her.

"No…she lied!"

"Ugh. Sakura _never _lies. And if she intends to, she doesn't say anything at all! So you _know _she's lying."

"Curse my lack of information!"

"Yes, you _should _have known that one," Sakura put in.

"Quiet, girl," The Snake-Man growled, growing further tired of her.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and planted his hands on his hip, which was thrust out to the side in a rather feminine manner, "Uh, can we get back to _me _now? What about your betrayal to me, Orochimaru!"

Said man rolled his eyes and pointed at his face with a dry reply, "I'm the _villain_, remember?"

Sakura, figuring out it was a dry reply he was making, wondered how anyone as _slimy _and as _snake like_ as Orochimaru could possibly make a dry _anything._

She also wondered it was taking so long for any action to happen, to which the authoress replied to her mind mysteriously, "So I can make this story last for ten chapters, and then prove that I can indeed actually write a full story, that isn't actually full because it's only got three pages to each chapter."

The pink haired girl wondered if she was going mad. It was basically the whole scenario where you're home alone, bored, and you start to wonder about things, especially the possibility that maybe we're all characters in a story, and that the authoress is a character in another story written about writing stories.

Sasuke, Orochimaru and Naruto were all staring at Sakura as she stood there with a dazed expression in her emerald eyes.

"I wonder what she's thinking about," muttered Naruto, waving a hand in her face, which she slapped away almost immediately without breaking out of her thoughts.

The blonde stared down at his hand in horror, which was bent right back to the forearm. He started screaming hysterically, which actually succeeded in snapping Sakura out of her daze. Her eyes went wide when she discovered what she did to Naruto and she had to hold him on her lap like a child and heal the damage.

"I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry! I was thinking – I didn't realize, I am _so _sorry, Naruto!"

Sasuke, who had finally given up on the feeling-sorry-for-himself-to-get-attention thing, was looking down at his old team mate with mild interest. Orochimaru was edging towards the exit, so he could yell for Kabuto.

"What were you thinking about?"

"Oh, you know, the mysteries of life and stuff," Sakura smiled sweetly and seeing the Uchiha's clearly not amused expression, she unconsciously gripped Naruto's finger and wrenched it backwards, eliciting a sharp scream from the boy.

Watching the other two interact with each other caused a sharp pain in Sasuke's heart. It was a foreign feeling. He wondered if it was because he'd always felt so lonely and now seeing his only friends so happy without him increased that feeling one hundred fold…or maybe he was just feeling Naruto's pain. He decided to settle for the second, more Sasuke choice.

"Whoops! Sorry about that...again!"

"Sakura-chan? Just heal it and don't hurt me…please. Hinata will cry."

"Oh, so you finally realized that Hinata loves you?" Sasuke smirked, "I thought you'd never figure it out." He seemed to be oblivious to Sakura making jerking motions at her neck. _Hmmm, I wonder what's up with that…_

"H-Hinata l-loves me…?"

_Oh._

Sakura picked up a nearby rock and hurled it at his face.

Oooooooooooooooo

"Kabuto! _Psssst! _You there!" Whispered Orochimaru so loudly that there really wasn't any point in him whispering, besides, Sasuke and Sakura were beating the hell out of each other and Naruto was curled in the fetal position whimpering. He wouldn't be caught.

He was standing outside of what was once his throne room, but was now…something else.

"You called, Orochimaru-sama?"

"I think it is time that we end this. Capturing the Kyuubi is far too dangerous. We will have to wait for another opportunity to arise," He leaned over and glanced into the room, where Sakura was beating a screaming Sasuke into submission with her mad strength, "I don't think Sasuke-kun will survive if we wait any longer, either."

A particularly pain filled screech entered the hall where the two men stood and they visibly shuddered, covering their manly parts.

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

Sympathizing with Sasuke's obvious pain, (He was rolling around the floor, dangerously close to the edge of the split, crying pitifully.) Naruto leapt to his feet, vowing to talk to Hinata when he returned home, and he _would_, and tackled Sakura from behind, who had been attempting to kick the Uchiha down the hole in the floor.

"Gah!"

"Calm down, Sakura-chan!"

"Okay, okay!"

Naruto released his hold on the girl and stood up, holding a hand out to her, which she took if a little hesitantly. She walked over to Sasuke and nudged him in the side with her foot. He groaned in response.

"Eh…Sorry 'bout that Sasuke! I guess I got a little carried away, heheh," She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

"_Groaaaaan._"

All three snapped to attention when the lights suddenly cut off and the room filled with an odd sort of smog that seemed to cling to every inch of their bodies and explore. Naruto and Sakura twitched, knowing _exactly _who would have perverted smog. The pink haired girl suddenly felt sorry for Tsunade having to grow up with two perverts. She only had to deal with one, and that was only occasionally. She smacked Naruto over the head and he yelped.

"Hey! What was that for!"

"It was for all the poor women out there, who get preyed on by you perverts!"

"Wha!"

"Silence! I'll believe none of your lies."

"Okay."

Orochimaru must have decided that he was sick of the attention not being on him and his smog, so he coughed expectantly and all three teens began to scream in terror. Sasuke was far too cool to actually scream in terror, so he screamed sarcastically.

All three teens, Orochimaru and Kabuto were simultaneously transported to the Forest of Death. There was a collective groan from just about everyone but Orochimaru.

"We're _here _again!"

Naruto rubbed his belly, remembering.

Sasuke rubbed his neck, remembering.

Sakura stared at her new hairstyle and shrugged. She was pretty happy with her short hair.

"Are you ready…for _Mortal Kombat!_"

All of a sudden, at those words, dodgy techno music from the film Mortal Kombat echoed throughout the forest from god knows where, including all of its words of 'Choose your destiny!' and 'Flawless victory!'.

Naruto and Sakura wondered if it was possible for Orochimaru to seem even _more _insane than he was before.

Sasuke felt embarrassed that he was working for the guy…and Kabuto was extremely turned on by the flashing lights and dodgy techno music _and_ Orochimaru's really bad dancing.

There weren't really any flashing lights, on account that there was no power in the Forest of Death, but he could dream.


	10. Final battle

"Kabuto," Orochimaru didn't look back at the silvery haired ninja, but knew that the young man would do his job. The elder flexed his hands and slid one foot behind him and held his fists in front of his face. His greasy black hair whipped behind him from a sudden breeze, and a creepy smirk grew on his mouth. There was no awesome Mortal Kombat music, but the Snake-Man felt that the whole whipping-back-of-hair-thing and his super creepy smirk were dramatic enough.

Upon hearing his name, Kabuto stepped behind Sasuke silently and hooked his arms under the Uchiha's armpits, locking him in place. That was enough to cause him to flip out and begin to rage.

"What the hell are you doing! I'm on _your _side, when I get out of this I'm going to kill you!"

Orochimaru chuckled and Naruto and Sakura huddled closer together, shuddering.

"Worry not, Sasuke-kun, this is merely to make sure you do not interfere. While you may be on our side, I doubt you could promise not to step in when these two start screaming in mind boggling pain."

The two team mates exchanged wide eyed glances and mouthed in unison, _Screaming in mind boggling pain! _

"I _won't _interfere."

Orochimaru decided to change the subject, "So, would you two like to die now?"

"Could you give us five minutes to think about that?"

"No."

"Aw, fine."

Sakura slid her right foot back and bent her left knee, bringing her left fist out in front of her. She had no blade-like weapons around that she knew of, but she had her unbelievable strength, and she felt that would be all she needed. The pink haired girl knew that the way she had grown she would stand a fair chance against Orochimaru as long as he didn't use his speed, which he would. So what she was going to focus on was getting enough time for her and Naruto to escape and get back to Konoha.

Naruto was crouched beside his friend, right palm flat on the ground to hold him steady when he wished to charge the creepy Snake-Man. He glanced up at Sakura and she smiled encouragingly at him. He knew the deal; if they were overpowered they had to retreat. Kyuubi was what Orochimaru was after, so he had to make sure he was out of reach, and if he had to run, then that was acceptable.

Working together for so long had benefited the two greatly, and they could work as a team without ruining the other's moves. He would use his stamina to constantly attack the enemy and when they were becoming tired, or were focused on the blonde, Sakura would dart in and strike with her strength.

Luckily for them, Orochimaru had no idea of their style of fighting, he only knew that Sakura could do something weird with the ground and Naruto had the kyuubi.

Orochimaru's massive snake-like tongue shooting in their direction was the only warning they received that the fight had begun. Naruto barely dodged with a backwards roll and Sakura deflected the tongue with her fist. She visibly shuddered when she pulled her saliva covered hand back and wiped it on Naruto.

"Hey!"

The tongue struck again and whipped both across the face, and they cringed.

"Damnit! This fight is so wrong!"

It hit them again and they fell backwards.

"Stop talking and fight, Naruto!"

They rolled back in unison when it reached for them and they leapt to their feet, performing a clean back flip when it swept at their legs to trip them up.

Orochimaru charged them, his tongue returning into his mouth with every step he took and when he at last reached the both of them, he struck Sakura across the face with as much power and blurring speed as he could manage. She stood there for a moment, then toppled to the ground and turned to leaves.

The real Sakura sat perched in a tree right above them, disguising herself as a branch. Naturally, she felt humiliated when a bird flew over her and left a little "white gift" behind.

The old man took note of the leaves, and then moved onto Naruto, deciding not to worry about the girl just yet. Perhaps he'd be able to obtain the kyuubi after all and keep his side of the deal with the Akatsuki.

He ran head on at Naruto, who was running to meet him halfway and they began exchanging furious punches and kicks. Orochimaru's leg swept over the blonde's head and around again, lowering it to meet his neck. He went to grab a hold of the Snake-Man's foot, but it had already disappeared. He had swung it backwards at the last moment, and instead smacked him in the face with his closed fist.

Naruto stumbled back, wrinkling his nose to hold back a sneeze, which only a hit to the face could cause. He yelped and ducked left to avoid a fist, which he countered with a swift kick to the older man's side. Orochimaru took hold of his leg and lifted him clean off the ground, being taller than him, and began to swing him around in a circle.

Sakura grinned and readied herself.

Orochimaru released Naruto into the air and he went flying headlong into a tree, which split in half on impact of his thick skull. He hit the ground in a heap.

Sakura leapt out of the branches, poofing into her normal form. She raced towards the man in a speed she didn't know she even possessed and she punched her fist into the ground, which was immediately charged with her glowing blue chakra. She dragged her fist along inside the ground, which was cracking every which way around her.

Orochimaru turned to face the girl at the last minute and his eyes widened as she tore her fist free of the ground, bringing up with her the massive jagged earth her hand and chakra had gathered. She launched it into his face before he could react and he hissed. Sakura Flipped over his head while he was preoccupied with trying to clear his face and she round house kicked him in the spine, sending him forward. She promptly followed up with more spin kicks in the same spot until he fell.

He was on his knees, trying to rise while clawing for Sakura's foot. She danced out of the way, and vanished back into the bushes to find another hiding spot that the man would never think of.

Ooooooooooooooooooo

Sasuke's mouth was agape at his old friends' technique. It was…

"Wow."

Kabuto nodded slightly, which made it look more like a weird jerk, "Yes…that was impressive."

Sasuke looked back to the fight that he could have been apart of, had he stayed in Konoha. Sure he had improved, but seeing how strong even _Sakura _had become, he could only imagine what staying at the village would have done for _his _skills.

It was most definitely something to think about.

Oooooooooooooooooooo

Naruto was back on his feet and he gave a thumbs up to wherever Sakura was, knowing she would see. What he had just witnessed with Sakura's technique surprised even he, who was her team mate. He would shout her a free bowl of ramen when they returned to Konoha, 'cause everyone loves ramen!

Orochimaru was also back on his feet, and he was eyeing the forest around him suspiciously. Maybe he underestimated the girl, just a little. He turned towards Naruto and realized he did the same to him. The little trick he used to draw his attention away, worked.

He was beyond furious now; falling for a pathetic child's trick was not acceptable. He lifted his hand towards Naruto's direction and his entire arm elongated and shot in his direction with speed that the blonde couldn't dodge in time. Orochimaru's bony fingers wrapped themselves around his neck and lifted him off the ground, squeezing the breath from him. Naruto began to sputter, trying to draw breath and the Snake-Man shrank his arm back to normal size, bringing the blonde with it.

Sakura tensed from her hideout, standing right behind Orochimaru and Naruto. She watched her friend claw at the arms of his captor and her heart beat rose for a second before she could control it. That one second was enough for the older man to hear and his other hand snatched her out of the hiding spot and lifted her into the air. She began thrashing about and her hands twitched and clutched at his around her throat.

Oooooooooooooooooo

"I suppose we shouldn't be _too _surprised that the fight didn't last long, although I must say that from their previous attack, I thought they might have stood a chance," Kabuto laughed softly and Sasuke didn't tear his eyes from the sight in front of him. He felt the silver haired ninja's hold on him relax.

_No doubt because he thinks the fight's won and it's too late for them to be saved, _He thought to himself bitterly, watching Naruto stop struggling and slump and Sakura's face grow increasingly red. He shifted and felt the odd looking dagger, he had taken from Sakura when he fought her, strapped to his side under his shirt.

The corner of his mouth twitched.

Ooooooooooooooooooo

Sakura was facing Naruto and saw as he lost consciousness. She tried to scream out to him but couldn't even find herself enough air to breath. Orochimaru was quickly shutting off her air supply and she thought that her throat might tear right in half.

Orochimaru dropped the blonde to the ground at his feet without a second glance. He turned his full focus on the still awake Sakura, who was lasting longer than he thought she would. He brought her closer to his face and she had the guts to glare at him, even through the haze that was her mind. He clenched his hand and she screwed her face up in pain. He backhanded her and her legs jerked for the pain because her upper body couldn't move anymore. She continued to stare at him, through half lidded eyes and he decided to finish her off first, dropping her.

Sakura barely felt it as the ground rushed up to meet her, and Orochimaru leaned over her with four needle-like weapons grasped between each finger of his right hand. His triumphant smirk seemed to take up most of his face, though his eyes remained cold and cruel.

"You both did well, but I'm afraid I will have to end this now. Rest assured though, girl, I will take good _care_ of your friend," Sakura seemed to attempt to say something at those words and Orochimaru smacked her across the face, each needle slicing a thin line into her skin. He drew his hand back, feeling a thrill at the thought of sinking each of the mini blades into her heart and ending the girl's life, "Sleep well."

Sakura closed her eyes to the on coming blow that would end her life.

Oooooooooooooooooo

Kabuto lay on the ground drowning in a puddle of his own life blood, twitching, his throat severed.

He should have paid more attention.

Oooooooooooooooooo

Orochimaru jerked forward, his needles barely pressed against Sakura's chest. His golden gaze traveled down his own body and he stared dumbly at the oddly marked dagger that had run him through.

Sasuke leaned over the man's shoulder and spoke into his ear, with a smirk that was so big it could be heard in his voice, "_You should have paid more attention." _

"_You…"_ Orochimaru snarled and went to stab the Uchiha with the needles. Sasuke gripped the hilt of the blade with both hands and wrenched upwards and out of the shoulder, spraying himself and Orochimaru with blood and torn muscle. He swung the dagger around and followed through with a swift slice into the man's neck, knocking his head clean off his shoulders.

It rolled around for a few moments, then stopped, the Snake-Man's expression one of frozen surprise and pain.

Sasuke crouched on the ground beside the still jerking body and his Sharingan eyes flickered back to their onyx colour. He looked down at both Naruto and Sakura, and wondered how he was going to carry them both home. Last time he hadn't even made it with the two of them.

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

Hours later, the two still hadn't shown any sign of waking up and Sasuke was growing worried for their lives. He wasn't a medic ninja, he couldn't do squat to help them. It seemed he wouldn't have to either.

A puff of smoke alerted Sasuke of another ninja and he readied himself for an attack with Sakura's dagger, which he had cleaned only half an hour before.

"Sorry I was so late Sakura, you see the next volume of Icha Icha—" Kakashi stopped short of finishing the sentence and stared down at the two headless bodies of Kabuto and Orochimaru lying right beside him, then to the motionless Sakura and Naruto who were side by side. He looked at Sasuke last and the boy could feel the anger rolling off him in waves. The Uchiha watched him emotionlessly and decided he should speak, lest he wanted to be chopped into many little pieces by the copy ninja.

"They're alive."

Kakashi looked at the bodies of Orochimaru and Kabuto, doubt clearly written on his face.

"I _meant _the _other two._"

"Oh. I see…"

The older man approached Sasuke and he tensed, but the man only sat down next to him and looked at Naruto and Sakura.

They didn't talk for a long time, until the Uchiha finally broke the silence, "I couldn't let Orochimaru do it. I suppose I'm weak."

Kakashi smacked him over the head and replied in annoyance, "Saving your friends is _not _weak. You are not _weak_, you are far from it, after what you did for the two of them. I must say that I'm more disturbed about you saying that, than you running off to the creepy Snake-man over there," He jerked his thumb in Orochimaru's direction.

They went silent again for a little bit and Kakashi stood up and bent down to pick up his former students. He threw Naruto over his shoulder and Sakura to Sasuke, who caught her easily and gave the copy ninja a questioning look.

"You're coming back to Konoha. If you don't, Naruto and Sakura will drive us all mad again. You have no idea how much they acted up without you," He frowned, "Don't make me force you to follow."

Sasuke closed his mouth, he was going to argue, and sighed with a nod, shifting Sakura so she was hanging over his shoulder, while he went to tuck the dagger into his belt.

"What are you doing with the dagger I gave Sakura?"

"Uh…"

"Never mind. You can explain everything later," The copy ninja moved to the boy's side and placed his hand gently on his shoulder, "You're doing the right thing, now hold on so I can transport us all back."

Sasuke took a hold of Kakashi's arm and all four of their forms flickered before disappearing from view.

Oooooooooooooooooooo

Sakura opened her eyes to find the frightening thing she'd ever seen in front of her. Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi were all leaning over her, eagerly waiting for her to wake up.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Needless to say, the three should have known better than that, and were thrown backwards by the extremely freaked out kunoichi.

She looked around panicky, wondering why she was in a hospital, and when she remembered she got angry that she was last to wake up…then when she realized that she was alive and not dead, she was relieved.

The males in the room were scared. They had just seen three very strong emotions flash past in Sakura's eyes in one second flat. Then the tears started when she realized they were all in the room for her, and that Sasuke was actually back in Konoha.

"GUYS!" she called and glomped them when they ventured near enough and began planting kisses all over their faces. The pink haired girl turned to Sasuke and smiled brightly at him. He returned it, though it wasn't so bright, and he shoved the others out of the way to give Sakura a bear hug.

"Kakashi…I think Sasuke's lost it."

"He lost it looooooooooonng ago, my friend."

_Five minutes later:_

"So, Kakashi, why the _hell _weren't you there when we needed you! HUH!"

"U-Um…Icha Icha paradise—OH GOD NOT THE DAGGER! SASUKE WHY'D YOU GIVE IT BACK TO HER!"

"She threatened to tell the fan girls I was back!"

"NARUTO!"

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" the blonde screamed and bolted out into the waiting room, where Hinata was…well, waiting. But not for Sakura.

"H-Hi H-Hinata…"

"H-H- N-N-Naruto…I'm g-glad you're safe…"

End.

PS. The men in little white coats later caught Itachi pretending to be a cow to lure them to their deaths, and took him to "The Happy Farm" to learn that cows, too, deserve to live hap-happy and non dying-early-because-of-their-leather-products lives.


End file.
